Two alternative education programs in Holland will come together beginning next school year.

Wavecrest Career Academy, which plans to close at the end of the academic year because of declining enrollment, will become part of Holland’s Van Raalte Tech.

Wavecrest is chartered by the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District and has been operating at its 633 Apple Ave. location since 2006.

"The Wavecrest board (of education) will dissolve later this year and the charter will be no more because the ISD authorized the charter," said Julie Gillespie, assistant superintendent for communications and human resources at the Ottawa Area Intermediate School District.

All Wavecrest staff will be laid off, Gillespie said. There are no planned layoffs at VR Tech, Holland Public Schools officials said.

The new school model at VR Tech will combine computer-based learning with teacher-led instruction.

"VR Tech and Wavecrest staff began having some dialogue about how to take the best practices of both programs and how could they integrate portions of Wavecrest into the VR Tech model," Gillespie said.

At Holland’s board of education meeting Monday, Wavecrest Director Eryn Sluiter was hired in as the school’s dean of students effective Aug 1. She will lead the school along with VR Tech’s assistant principal Paula DeRoos.

Sluiter deferred all comments about the school closure to the OAISD.

Gillespie said when Wavecrest was launched, there was a need for a career-readiness academy but as districts began offering their own programs for at-risk students, that need diminished.

"I think we’ve learned a great deal from the Wavecrest model. We’ve been able to implement career-based learning," Gillespie said. "So we’ve learned a lot about how to engage students in an alternative environment and I think that’s good for everyone."

Gillespie also said staff are working proactively with Wavecrest students and parents to help them with the transition and move to another school. A high school fair will be 4-7 p.m. May 1 at Wavecrest.